Advantages

Disadvantages

Considered an EPIC in its genre for a reason, try it.

The most economical way to acquire the triliogy of Fallout for the PC. This cd contains three games, FAllout (the original), FAllout 2 (the sequel), and Fallout Tactics (the combat oriented sequel).

If you have played fallout, then this disc offers the opportunity to acquire an inexpensive backup disc for all three games. I don't know about you, but after a decade of gaming, this is still only one of three games that has a permanent spot of my hard drive, and a decade from now I want to make sure my grandchildren have a chance to see this masterpiece.

If you have never played fallout then I feel sorry for you. But this game pak is an easy way to fix your mistake, and at a good price too. Fallout/Fallout2 are old games (10 years I think), yet people are still touting their greatness and still playing them. Better than any review, this one fact ought to tell you something about these games and what they are. How do these games not only survive but continue to attrack new players given the continued stream of games with more graphics technology that they must compete with each year. Simple, these games show why gaming is all about content, and nothing about BLING. But what is it really that this means?

What are tales told around a campfire with friends? It is a way of telling a story. What are books? They are way of telling a story. What is a play or musical or opera, a TV episode, or a movie? They are all a way to tell a story. So... what is a RPG computer game? Yes, it is a way of telling a story. And what do you need to write a great book or make a great movie? You need a great story. So how does a development team create a great RPG? No matter what they do, they better start with the story.

Fallout/Fallout2 demonstrate this clearly. They offer a believable and complelling story. Then they tell it using a medium that stays true to the story in various ways. One example is the graphics which are done in 256 color in 640x480 mode; a reality of the era in which the game was created. This yeilds a picture in which details are grainy by today's standards. A gamer overly interested in BLING would call this OLD. But in reality this actually adds to the gameplay because as you will see, the Fallout Universe is a dirty place and the graphics re-enforce this idea visually. The places/people and sites in the game all work together to create an atmosphere that is consistent through the entire game and its sequel and which matches what we might imagine for a POST-APOCAPLYTIC world.

These games use turn-based combat. I was never a fan of this, until I played these games. In Fallout/Fallout2 we see how turn-based combat is supposed to be done. We also see how different aspects of the game combine to create a more sophisticated experience. For example, you create your own character if you like, and when you are done, your choices for starting stats and abilities result in among other things the number of action points you have for each round of combat. Different weapons require different amounts of action points to use. If you have eight action points but fight with a weapon that takes five action points to use, then you only get one use per round and must use remaining AP for something else. You could use a less powerful weapon that takes only four AP and get two turns per round. In a "real time combat" game the AP requirements of a weapon are treated like a "cool down period". This means you never actually loose any AP, you just shoot a little slower than the other guy. But in Fallout the choice is more extreme because a mismatch in AP available to AP required means you do indeed loose offensive capability, so your choices impact how you play. Then again, maybe rapid fire mode of the Pancor Jackhammer is worth it eh?

This in the end is the greatest general feature of the game. Your decisions actually affect your gameplay in a meaningful way. Do you play a Bruiser, Smooth Talker, of Thief? Are you a loner or do you like fighting with friendS at your back? Do you value raw power or precision, and do you like to get your hands dirty up close and personal or do you prefer to "kill from a distance". It all depends on how you want to play the game. Indeed you will play the game many times and try many different character variations.

Then we have the questing. This game has lots of quests to be done on behalf of the inhabitants of the Fallout universe. As one would expect, these quests offer choices and how you choose to complete a quest will affect how your game plays out. And these quests are not just "go here and get that" quests. Most require some amount of thought and investigation. You will be rewarded in many situations for paying attention to details and for taking time to investigate the world around you.

After all, what is interactive story telling if the interaction of the player makes no difference to the game. One great example of choice and the affect of potential consequences of a choice can be found in FALLOUT2. You can choose to use drugs (in particular PHYSCO and JET) to enhance your combat abilities greatly. By greatly I do mean greatly. You can significanlty improve your toughness against injury, and increase your action points so you can get those extra shots in. However, as we know, drugs can be addictive and should this happen to you, drugs will no longer be an option but a necessity because of the severe penalty of addiction. It is quite fitting and an excellent example of how "you have to pay if you want to play". But... there is a solution, if you can find it.

Let us recap the basic great features you have to look forward to:

1) Excellent character creation capabilities2) Truely different ways to play the game3) Choice affects gameplay in meaningful ways4) Atmosphere draws you in and makes the game feel natural and real5) Plenty of true questing and plenty of combat6) This CD contains the first three Fallout games for the price of one

Enjoy

Hail Flavius

Comments

Product Details

The world has been blown into a permanent nuclear winter following World War III. The H2O system, however, is in danger of contamination and now someone needs to venture out from Vault 13. That someone is you!